The Shadow Prophecy
by rhyejess
Summary: Peace has returned to Hyrule. Zelda and Link have made the best life they could for themselves, their daughters, and their kingdom. The Sheikah people wait in shadows for an old prophecy to be fulfilled, while Link forged ahead on a new adventure.
1. Prologue

It was many years ere the king had been to battle, though his strength had waned little, and his vigilence none. As a youth, even as a child, he had seen his share of fighting, and though now he wore a velvet robe and sat on thrones of gold, he still felt most at home wielding a bow or sword. He shamefully longed for adventure once again, but dared not leave his queen and her three daughters home alone, and least of all now that there was a prince about to be born. Perhaps it was this impending birth, or the way the birds stirred anxiously in their roosts, but by day Link rarely left the tallest tower of Hyrule Castle, and by night he found himself pacing the watch by the doors of his wife and daughters. Something, he feared, was waking. 


	2. Chapter 1: Ten Years' Meal

The Broad Room was ornamented like Feast Day. The long table was spread with sparkling black fabrics and loaded with all bounties of food. Link made straight for the burr-berry tarts, a favorite of his harkening back to holidays at Saria's in the heart of the Kokiri Forest. Leal, the eldest princess, was pouring tea for her younger siblings, Kais and Mirla, who were stuffing every cookie they could reach into their greedy little mouths. Kais, scarcely three, had chocolate smudged into her dark brown hair. Link made no move to stop the brigade of princesses. Let them enjoy their childhoods while they had the luxury. When he was Leal's age, he was just beginning his life as a warrior. Link watched Leal's attempts to curb her sisters' voraciousness and was saddened. When did she become so burdened with adulthood?

A sweep of pink fabric interrupted his reverie as the queen, fat with the First Prince, entered. Link had been married to Zelda for ten years today, and yet she had been so busy being pregnant, he hardly felt he knew her. Link had some faint rememberance of a deeper feeling for her, maybe it had even been love, but it felt gone now. His wife was pretty, she was Queen, and he loved his children dearly. That, he thought, ought to be good enough for any husband. Already Zelda was herding the princesses away from the cookies.

"Father, I dreamt I was riding a horse, a fine tan horse like your old Epona!" chimed Mirla. Link hardly responded but listened intently. It was not in his character to react or speak much, though most things that came from the girls' mouths made him happy. They sat now for the Ten Years Meal, a small traditional anniversary celebration shared among close family members, but Link and Zelda spoke little.

"Sire, Majesty, the town has been planning a small celebration in honor of this day," said the castle warder, Faryl, entering the room and invading their meal. They are having a small carnival and parade and have asked the castle if it would be possible for the two fo you to make an appearance. After all, you are loved dearly by the people, and they would share this day with you." "And we love them, Lord Faryl, and will come down directly after our meal, with the children if they wish," Zelda quickly answered. Link looked at her with irritation. As soon as Lord Faryl excused himself, Link hissed under his breath, "And walk announced into the city streets to greet any arrow or bomb that might be sent our way, and in front of the girls, and with you in your condition?" "Link. Stop. It. We have lived in long peace all these years since my youth, and no suspicion is needed of the townsfolk. They want to hail their King and Queen, and I would not deny it them." Her tone of voice clearly signalled the end fo the discussion, but the girls had caught scent of the tension. The rest of the meal was held in silence. But Link could not dismiss the cold feeling of dread winding its way around his heart.


	3. Chapter 2: The Gerudo Scythe

After the meal, the princess' maid Sero ushered them upstairs to get their habits, nun-like bonnets that no royal female under thirteen was permitted to leave the castle without, a symbol of their virute and status. Zelda, for her part, always wore her crown and mantle, and was ready to go. Link was in his usual long green and gold velvet robe. He wore it not by choice but by convention and the insistance of the Queen, although he did choose the color. He silently slipped out of the room.

Sneaking along the castle hallways to avoid detection by Her, Link made haste, and soon was standing in the glittering Castle Armory. In these days of peace it was more of a museum, but a deadly one. 'This place should be guarded,' thought Link.

Surveying the walls of weapons, Link chose a long, delicate yet powerful scythe. It was at once foreboding and decorative, perfect for a Sunday jaunt into town. The base of its blade was ringed in golden olivine, and the handle was ebony carved with images and signs of the goddesses. 'Fit for a king,' he thought, though he would have preferred a sword, but no scabard he owned would fit over his robe. 'Just another reason not to wear a robe.' He ignored the thought and passed from the room, with the scythe going on before him.

When Link returned to the main foyer, the whole family was there ready to go, complete with two castle guards. Link had good reason not to trust the safety of his family to the guards. As a child he'd snuck into the castle right under their noses. Link had improved the training program since then, but still he trusted no weapon besides the ones in his own hands.

"Link, what is that," Zelda gasped at seeing the scythe. "You aren't going to take that awful Gerudo weapon into town!" It was almost a command, but he was tired of taking his commands from the Queen. He didn't even answer her, but led his family into the bright September air, down the short path, and through the gates into Hyrule Castle Town.


	4. Chapter 3: Carnival Games

Leal shut her eyes against the morning sun's glare, and tucked a lock of windswept straight brown hair back into her bun. When her eyes had adjusted to the sun's blaze, they were pained by another, nearer glare. The scythe blade scared her. Not the weapon-ness of it -- for her own self defense she'd been taught the ways of war from a babe -- but the grandier with which its inscriptions celebrated death. She didn't know Gerudo. But it seemed wrong to her to decorate a weapon.

"Father, aren't the Gerudo so ruthless to make such a lovely instrument of death," Leal whispered to her father as they walked down the road toward the town. Mesmerized, her young, slender fingers brushed the handle. Link's instincts jerked it away from her. He answered, distractedly and looking toward town (or was it the horizon?), "People everywhere decorate weapons. Us as well. You are of woman-kind, who think of weapons as death instruments. To man, they are the means by which we retain our lives."

Leal didn't know what to say, but was saved from the need of a response by the ear-rending screethc of rusting hinges. They reached Hyrule Castle Town gate.

A disapproving glance from Zelda inspired Link to tuck the scythe into his robe, out of sight of the multitudes.

As soon as the gate was flung open, a great applause rang up from the townsfolk. Even suspicious, Link couldn't help but reveal a small smile. It's nice for any king to know his people are happy.

The townsfolk had a whole festival planned. There were choirs, musicians, and dancers, magicians and performers of all sorts. One troupe put on a play. The town smelled sweet, and all varieties of edible delicacies were hcked from storefronts. Booming businessmen shared the mirth of passing children with 3-rupee candy smeared on their faces.

The sun was finally sneaking toward the horizon. The day had gone so well, Link felt mildly stupid at having been so paranoid. His content musings were abrupted by an explosion at a nearby store. Within ten second, the whole town square had changed. Women screamed and groped after their bawling children. Houses all flared in flame. In a daze, Link looked at his grils. Zelda was gathering them into her wide skirts. Their eyes were likewise wide, with fear, as guard surrounded the dais. Link was proud of his daughters; they neither screamed nor cried. Zelda caught Link's eye, and in her face he saw something he had not seen ever in this world -- a flash of red and determination. It woke him from his daze.

The guards at the foot of the dais were defending -- poorly -- against some invaders. In one movement Link jumped into the invaders' midst and slashed the scythe through two of them simultaneously. But they kept coming. There had to be an army of them -- covered in hard black armor -- and the Hyrulian guards seemed totally inadequate against them. Link learned quickly that there was a weak spot in their armor, under their chins where the hauberk was tied. All around Link, heads rolled. But they kept coming. Their tan reptilianskin was armor-like under their armor. Link had never seen anything like them, and he had seen a lot. They were gaining ground. Link heard a proud feminine grunt from the dais. Spinning, he saw Zelda with two arrows in her shoulder. She'd gotten a dagger from somewhere, and had beheaded more invaders than the best of the guards. But there were too many. Then Link's world went dark.


	5. Chapter 4: The Flight of the Queen

Zelda was enjoying a pleasant song by a passing fair choir when all hell broke loose. The explosion rocked the dais. At first she thought it was an accident. Then another building burst into flame. Zelda quickly gathered her daughters close to her. She looked at Link by her side. He was frozen. "Go," she tried to say to him with her eyes. It must have worked because he sprang into action, his scythe blazing before him. Zelda looked down at her girls.

"Leal, take them behind the dais. Kais, Mirla, you stay quiet and don't cry," Zelda instructed them. Leal nodded and squeeked, "Yes Mama" through trembling lips. Leal took her siblings by the hands and they all scrambled behind the dais. Zelda briefly reflected on the fact that she was indeed very pregnant, and if she could do the acrobatics required, should climb behind the dais herself. She laughed, and pulled a daggerout of the top of her dress. Link's paranoia had scared her as well, and as much as she'd given him flak for bringing a weapon to the town festival, she also thought it prudent to sneak one herself.

One by one she attacked the reptilian intruders, realizing that they had a defficiency of both external armor and scales right under their chins. She kicked at the piles of heads and bodies around her. They kept coming. The Hyrulian guards were overwhelmed. Even Link appeared to have difficulty staving off the sheer number of them.

Suddenly, a voice called behind her. A woman her age, with long red hair and wearing a plain farmer's dress, had Zelda's children in her hands and was calling to Zelda. In the din Zelda could not hear her. The reptilians, having tied Link, seemed to stop attacking for a moment. Apparently they had what they came for? -"What," Zelda yelled. -"I have a cart." -"What?" -"Out back, I have a cart waiting. Come quickly."

And with that the woman ran. Zelda did her best imitation of an over-fat duck as she tried to run after the woman who had her daughters. With the woman's helpful hand, Zelda struggled into the back of the cart. The red-haired woman jumped with a single fluid motion Zelda envied into the driving seat and with a "yah" her team of two ivory horses broke into a strong, albiet clumsy by virtue of the cart, gallop. Lying down in the cart, with a canvas thrown over them, Zelda felt herself breath for the first time in a while. In the aftershock, Mirla was bawling. Zelda gathered her girls around her, lying in the dark, and, not knowing how else to help them, whispered a lulliby.

As they left the burning town, the cart slowed to an easier pace across the still-peaceful green hills of Hyrule Field.


	6. Chapter 5: The Water Sage

Link awoke with a burning in his lungs and a blue bleariness in his eyes. It took him a moment to realize this was because he was underwater. His hands and feet were tied together behind his back, and his velvet robe was a brick dragging him down.

Link didn't panic. It wasn't in his nature. He did, however, worry. Rather frantically. His worries were interrupted by a girlish giggle, then large angular blue eys appeared before his face. Despite the youth in her laugh, the Zora woman was clearly closer to Link's age. She began to untie him, and then dragged him up to the surface using her powerful fins. She pulled him onto the grassy shore of Lake Hylia.

"So I hear Hyrule burns, King," she laughed. He tried not to look at her smooth, wet, naked, blue body. "Well aren't you a talktative little monarch. What promises have you come here to break today? Why should my people help you?" Link, still out of breath, puffed, "Who are you and what are you talking about?" "Ah... surely you understand it was not just a dream. I am Ruto, the same you almost married, the Queen of my people, and the Water Sage. And I remember you. I am a sage. I remember it all."

Link sighed in exasperation. "I never almost married you." -"Whatever." -"So help me because you owe me."

"Yes I probably do. We all do. But don't expect others to remember it." She looked whistful.

Link rose to his feet and shed the heavy robe. Under it he wore a tight green tunic and white tights.

"A-ha! That's better," smiled Queen Ruto.

Link ignored her.

"Well, anyway, the only weapon our people have- I assume you only wanted a weapon from me- is the sword of our ancestry. And I won't give that to you unless you do something for me." She eyed him questioningly.

_Great_, thought Link, _another quest. I do not have time for this, and I'd rather not examine the digestive systems of any more gods_. He said- "what?"

"Kiss me." Her blue eyes goggled laughingly at him. He stepped up to her, grabbed her thin blue shoulder, and...


	7. Chapter 6: The Coming of Enoras

The night in the hay loft loomed endlessly. The only sounds were the cuckoos below and the wind in the rafters. Heads cushioned on fresh hay, the girls slept in the deepness of a post-adrenaline slumber. But Zelda could not sleep. Her pulse throbbed in her ears as she listened attentatively to the night, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. Every flutter of cuckoo wings below brought a flutter of fear to her heart. But she was not the only one who fluttered, not the only one who didn't sleep. The baby, the would-be son (she knew it was a son-- had always known-- through her magical wisdom she knew it) was preparing, stretching, repositioning. She, a mother of three, knew what was coming.

When labor started in the late hours of the night, she was not surprised, but concerned. She had no choice, she saw, but to send her oldest princess into danger. Quickly and quietly she woke Leal. Leal looked blurrily at her mother. "Listen," Zelda whispered, "Enoras is coming. You must run and find Malon. Talk to no one else. Hide yourself from others. If you find a cloak or a tarp, cover your clothes with it." She touched her daughter gently on the cheek. "Nayru protect you, daughter." With that, Leal scrambled quickly down the ladder and into the night. Zelda watched her go, watcher her two other children sleep, and cringed in pain as the fourth clamored for attention. Sometime in the meantime, she drifted into sleep.

And in that short, laborous slumber, Zelda dreamt a dream.

She was standing on an island of Lake Hyrule. Link was there, but he was younger. Time seemed frozen. She looked down into the icy blue water, and was shocked by what she saw. It wasn't herself. She was staring into the bright red eyes of a young man, a sheikah man. His face was bound so she couldn't see it. She turned to Link and heard an adolescent boy say, "Who am I?" His crystal blue eyes caught hers...

No, the eyes were not Link's-- well they were, but they were set in Leal's face. "Mama, wake up." She looked worried. Past Leal, Zelda saw Malon. She'd brought some rags and water. --"Have you done this before," Zelda asked. --"Tons of times... just never on a person."

From the contraction, or maybe fear, or probably both combined with exhaustion, Zelda moaned.

Malon retorted triumphantly, "But you have!"


	8. Chapter 7: The Zora Sword

...shoved his thumb against her carotid artery. "Aaaw," she cried girlishly as her vision darkened. He released his hold a bit and leaned into her ear.

"I don't have time to joke around. Give me this sword, or else I will get it on my own. If Hyrule falls, the Triforce falls, the Master Sword is taken, and Ganon returns. This is NOT a game."

The Water Sage's large blue eyes widened in fear and comprehension. "Do you have a Zora tunic on you?"

Link glared at her. "Yes, I was expecting to need one at the town festival."

"Geez, no need for an attitude. We'll just have to go overland. We should go now, while we have night on our side."

As they began their stealthy journey across Hyrule field, Link looked up at Death Mountain. It was said to represent the condition of Hyrule. Already its wreath of smoke was glowing a bit ominously. That could not be good. Then he thought he saw something else. Could it be? Could those be a pair of Sheikah eyes, on the side of Death Mountain, glowing red?

"We should run. I have a bad feeling about being in the open," Link whispered to Ruto. Side by side they ran along the bluffs by the river.

They entered the Zora caves near dawn. Ruto brought him straight to the sword. It was long, sharp, and ring-whorled beautifully, with a long, cold, blue crystal for a hilt. It was heavy, and not weighted quite perfectly-- no Master Sword, but it would do. Ruto helped him strap it over his green tunic. She also gave him a Zora tunic, whcih would help him dive deeply. -"Where are you going now?" Ruto asked him. -"I have no idea," he confessed. -"Well you can't just barge into the castle town and retake it." -"So what about my family? They're still there." -"Well, if they are, they're either well-guarded, or dead."

They both sat in silence for a moment at the thought. -"You have an advantage," Ruto smiled at him, "those reptiles, whatever they are, they think you're dead." -"Hmmm... but why throw me in the lake? Why not be sure of it and slit my throat? This just doesn't make sense." -"Could be a sort of ritual Legend has it Gorons throw their criminals in water as a mean of execution."

Link smiled feebly, "Well, I am part Goron." -"Huh?" Ruto, at this, was a bit confused. He didn't seem the least bit Goron. They were stoney mountain creatures. -"I mean I am an adopted Goron." -"Oh. Would you like to be Zora as well?" She smiled. -"No thanks," he responded far too seriously. -"So, what now?" -"I need more information. I'm going to Death Mountain." -"To see the Gorons? They won't know anything." -"Yes, I know. But I saw something up there I want to check out."

The thought of the Sheikah eyes haunted him. The Sheikah were the ancient protectors of Hyrule. At the very least, if he could find them, he could be sure of allies. But there was more. All the Sheikah he had ever known... Impa, Sheik (no-- Sheik had never existed in this timeline-- Or did he? Link briefly recalled the flash of red in Zelda's eyes back in Castle Town)-- All the Sheikah he had ever known knew more about what was going on and what to do about it than anyone else. If he could find them, maybe he could figure out what to do.

"Well, travel by night at least. I'll find you a nice dry room to sleep in today. And some food. I hope you like seaweed."

Link made a noncomittal sound. "Waiting hurts, but I see your point."

"Take courage," Ruto chimed, "you always knew just what to do."

"Courage I have enough. It's wisdom I lack. I never knew what to do without her."

Ruto made a quizzical face, shrugged, and walked off to find Link food and shelter.


End file.
